School district reorganizes

Responding to the need for more budget cuts, the Clark County School District announced a major administrative shake up that will eliminate 10 bureaucratic positions, saving about $1 million annually in salaries.

"We're downsizing the administration," Superintendent Walt Rulffes said Friday.

Rulffes hopes the cuts would show the school district was responsive to the public's demand to make more cuts at the administrative level before cutting into the classroom.

But Rulffes acknowledged there will be a decline in customer service. The school system is consolidating a regional structure that was supposed to make the school district more user friendly.

The Clark County School District is the fifth largest school system in the nation with 311,000 students.

To scale it down to the community level, five regional districts were created in 2001, each with a regional district superintendent and office staff of 10 to 20 employees.

Regional districts organized their own parent advisory groups, which is how School Board President Terri Janison got introduced into school politics. She was a president for the parent group that consulted with the northwest regional superintendent.

Janison acknowledged that parents might find it difficult to adjust to the changes since advisory groups will have to be reorganized.

"Overall, it's good (that the district is saving money), but it's going to be challenging," Janison said. "The community is going to need to step up."

Under the reorganization, the school system is replacing a five-region system with four larger service areas.

The school district is not replacing Marsha Irvin, the former Northeast superintendent who left in January to become chief academic officer at the Andre Agassi Prep Academy.

Under the new arrangement effective July 1, Andre Denson, the current superintendent of the southeast region, will be taking over a consolidated northern service area.

Robert Alfaro, the current superintendent of the east district, moves to a bigger southeast area. Richard Carranza, the superintendent of the northwest region, is taking over a western service area. Jolene Wallace, the southwest superintendent, will see her southwest territory increase to include Henderson schools like Liberty and Coronado.

Schools offering specialized programs, such as magnet schools and technical academies, will be moved from the superintendent's division to the instruction division. Many of those "schools of choice" are in the inner city to help the district achieve racial balance.

As part of the reshuffling and consolidation of duties, assistant regional superintendents are being reclassified as academic managers. Some administrative divisions, such as finance, are absorbing new duties like student data.

The school district is cutting any current personnel, but is eliminating long-time vacant positions.

Some of the positions are not related to the restructuring of the regional system. The district, for example, is cutting the assistant superintendent of business and finance, which paid $149,971.

Two human resource specialists are being cut for a combined savings of about $100,000. The district is eliminating a receptionist position for the Superintendent's School that had paid $75,957.

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug @reviewjournal.com or 702-374-7917.